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Ideas. Insights. Inspiration.

Take Your Shot

If you were to walk into my home office, you'd see much of what you might expect from a quirky career marketer and lifelong learner.


My laptop and monitors, of course.


Mementos, souvenirs, and "tombstones" from past initiatives I've successfully led.


Signed memorabilia from celebrities I've met.


Framed degrees and certifications. Motivational signs. Lots and lots of books.


But one prominently featured item would seem very out of place to those who know me well.


Hung on my wall, near the entrance to my office, is a framed canvas depicting the "spectacular Game Seven Buzzer-Beater" shot that Kawhi Leonard took on May 12, 2019, while playing for the Toronto Raptors against the Philadelphia 76'ers.

Kawhi Leonard, crouching, focused as a ball nears the hoop. Crowd in background, some players in jerseys. Intense, anticipatory mood.

That spectacular basket secured a last-second victory for the Raptors, which sent them to the Eastern Conference final. And after winning the Eastern Conference championship, the Raptors went on to win the NBA Championship, the first in the franchise's history.


Why is it so unusual that this particular item is in my office?


I don't follow basketball.


That's nothing against Basketball; I don't follow any sports. I played a few in high school (most of them badly), but I always preferred watching movies to watching athletic competitions. The exception is the Super Bowl, but I watch that almost entirely for the ads.


So why would I have a massive, framed picture of a basketball moment hanging in my office?


There are two reasons.


The first reason is that this large, framed image was a thank-you gift from a client.


The client, a Fortune 100 company, was hosting several of its clients for an eCommerce summit; I had been asked to give a keynote presentation on how omnichannel retailers can win with consumers. After the summit, all attendees and presenters were invited to attend dinner and watch a Raptors game in a swanky Scotiabank Arena corporate suite. Hanging on the wall of that suite was this historic image, and my client thought a copy of it would make an appropriate memento for all of the presenters; it was shipped to my home as a complete surprise a few days later.


But that's not the most important reason. After all, 25x36 is a lot of real estate in my modestly-sized office, and I could have sold this thing on eBay for a few hundred dollars.


The most important reason this image hangs on my office wall is to serve as a reminder:


Take your shot.


Leonard began charging towards the basket with just 4.2 seconds left in the game.


Those are next-to-impossible odds. But Leonard took his shot, and the rest is history.


Not every shot you take will win you the game.


But the ball doesn't have a chance to get in the basket if it remains in your hands.


I had never been a consultant before I agreed to my first consulting assignment in 2016.


After that, I was a consultant.


I had never taught a university course until the day I taught my first MBA class in 2017.


After that, I was a university instructor.


I had never been an author before I published Tom Talent and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Recruitment Process in 2023.


After that, I was an author.


If there's something you've been nervous about starting for fear of failing, find a copy of that Kawhi Leonard buzzer-beating photo and put it beside your favourite workspace.


It will remind you of what can happen when you take your shot.



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© 2025 David Pullara. All Rights Reserved.

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